Only four blog posts in and I’ve already fallen behind in my initial goal – to post a new recipe once a week.  Trips to San Francisco for the Fancy Food Show, my real job and experiments with my new Sous Vide Supreme have gotten in the way, but that’s no excuse – I’ll try to remain vigilant in the future.

I haven’t been feeling so great this week, and was craving comfort food tonight and a recipe that was fairly straight-forward.  Maybe soup?  Maybe a hotdish from my childhood?  I’m not one to follow tradition very well, so I opted for chilaquiles, a dish usually served in Mexico for breakfast or brunch to use up leftover tortillas from the previous night’s dinner.  You know those bags of 36 corn tortillas you can never use up?  This is a perfect dish to use those up.  Cut them in quarters, fry them in a little oil, season with salt and you’re ready to go.  Since I didn’t have any, I used leftover tortillas chips that I had on hand, and made a tomato / chipotle sauce adapted from a Rick Bayless recipe.  You think Rick Bayless is Mexican?  Well, he’s not, so this kid from MN doesn’t feel too bad about modifying his recipe.

* TIP: if you’re anything like me, you’ll start cranking away on the recipe w/o reading all the directions.  Near the end of the recipe, I blend the sauce in a blender while it’s still hot.  This can be dangerous if you’ve never done it – the sauce will have a tendency to explode if you add it all in and turn it on.  What you need to do is add one spoonful of sauce, and turn on the blender with the lid just covering it, not completely on tight, and blend.  Add the rest of the sauce, two spoonfuls at a time, and blend each time until it is all incorporated.  I use the lowest setting on my blender, and I’ve never had a problem with exploding sauces.

Here’s what you need:

• 14.5 oz can of whole tomatoes, sauce reserved
• 1 chipotle in adobo
• ½ white onion, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• ¾ C chicken broth (you could use vegetable stock or water to make this recipe vegetarian)
• ½ tsp cumin
• 1/8 tsp ground clove
• Vegetable oil
• Handful of tortilla chips
• Salt

• Eggs

Garnish:

• Finely chopped white onion
• Chopped cilantro
• Sour cream

Add the can of tomatoes and half of the reserved sauce in the blender along with the chipotle in adobo; if you like things a bit milder, you might want to remove the seeds with a knife before adding the chipotle.  Blend for a minute or so until it is pureed.   Meanwhile, sauté the onion over medium heat in a couple tbsps of vegetable oil for about 5-6 mins, until there is some color on the edges of the onions.  Add the garlic and sauté another minute until it is fragrant and light brown, but not burned.  Add the puree from the blender to the pan, along with the cumin and ground clove, until it is slightly reduced and the onions are a bit dryer, about five minutes.  Add the stock, and reduce until it looks like a thin sauce, about 2-3 minutes; season with salt to taste.  At this point, return the sauce to the blender and blend per instructions above.*

At this point, you might be saying, “It looks like a lot of sauce. I thought you only cooked for one?”  Well, my friends, I wasn’t going to tell you to use half a can of whole tomatoes, because they’re like $1.  So you’ll have a bit more sauce than you need, and it’s about enough for two servings.  So add half of the sauce back to the pan, add the handful of chips, and simmer over med-low heat until the chips are well covered with the sauce and begin to soften, maybe 3-4 minutes.  Set aside.

Cook the eggs to your liking – scrambled, as I did, fried, overeasy, however you want.

Add the chilaquiles to a shallow bowl or plate, add the eggs next to it, top with a scoop of sour cream and the finely chopped onion and cilantro.

This goes great with a margarita, or perhaps a Dos Equis served michelada-style.  Or in my case, with a TheraFlu chaser.  Anyway you do it, I think you’ll enjoy this recipe.

If you’ve never heard of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, it’s likely you’ve been living in a cave the last couple years because the concept has received much acclaim by home bakers because of its relative-ease due to the no-knead method.  I won’t get into the hard science of it, but the resulting dough can be left to “age” in the refrigerator for up to two weeks – the longer it ages, the closer it resembles a traditional sourdough loaf with its tangy flavor.  Here, I use that same basic technique to make an olive oil dough.  The recipe below will make enough for two one-pound loaves, or about three 8” pizzas.

• 1 3/8 C lukewarm water
• ¾ tbsp granulated yeast
• ¾ tbsp salt
• ¾ tbsp salt
• ½ tbsp sugar
• 1/8 C extra virgin olive oil (the fruitier, the better)
• 3 ¼ C unbleached all purpose flour

Mix all the ingredients but the flour in a lidded container (it should not be airtight).  Gradually mix in the flour with a spoon until it has all been incorporated (you may need to use wet hands to get the last bit incorporated).  This would be easier to do with a stand-mixer and dough hook, but alas, the kitchen gods have not gifted me one yet.  Cover the dough and allow to rest for about two hours or until the dough has flattened on top.

Once the dough has collapsed or flattened, you can throw it in the frig or use it right away; honestly it’s easier to handle when it’s a little colder, so 30 minutes would work.

(The rest of the dough can be used by cutting off the amount you want to use, allowed to rest on the counter for 20-30 minutes before baking.)

At this point I jack up my oven to 500 degrees and put in the pizza stone.  I cannot stress this enough – buy a pizza stone.  If you don’t want to spend the $20, buy a couple of fire bricks at a tile store.  If your oven is anything like mine, in about 10 minutes, the timer will go off to say it’s preheated – let me tell you now, it’s not.  I use a thermometer inside my oven and it usually takes about 20-25 minutes to come up to temp; I recommend you buy that $5 device.  The key to a crispy crust without charring the toppings is having a hot oven and hot stone.

I’m no expert pizza maker (and I certainly don’t throw it in the air), so here are my tips on forming the crust:

• Lightly flour the clean surface you’re working on, and add some flour to the top of the dough
• Rub the flour over the dough and pull it gently and fold it underneath – you’ve just “cloaked” the dough
• I use a rolling pin to get started flattened to very thin, but if you don’t want to use that method, you should press with your finger tips and work outward towards the edge, pulling gently as to not break it

Before topping the pizza, take out your pizza peel if you have one, or an inverted pizza pan, and sprinkle generously with cornmeal and shake the dough.  This will ensure the pizza slides off when you attempt to put it in the oven.

I won’t even begin to suggest ingredients to use, because that’s the beauty of pizza – anything can be added, and I encourage you to make pizza when you need to clean out the frig – scraps of cheese, bits of charcuterie, excess veg…the dough is your canvas.  In the top picture I used organic, jarred tomato puree, fresh tomato, mozz, ricotta, serrano ham, mixed greens & olive oil.  Typically I don’t even use a tomato sauce; I just use olive oil or a little pesto.  Again, it’s totally up to you.

Enjoy the recipe!

This is one of the easiest recipes in my arsenal and it’s a great, fast mid-week meal.  It also makes for a nice appetizer to another more complicated meal because you can make the salmon cakes before hand, throw them in the frig and pull out to cook when ready.

• 1 can of salmon OR filet of salmon, steamed
• Egg, lightly beaten
• 3-4 crackers, crushed
• ½ tsp dill
• ½ tsp old bay
• Pinch of salt, to taste
• Few dashes of hot sauce, to taste

If you don’t have a can of cooked salmon (easiest) and instead have a frozen or fresh filet available, you’re going to first want to steam the salmon.  I don’t have a steamer, so instead I used a cheap wok and a cookie rack placed inside and covered it tightly with foil.  With an inch of so of water in your pan, steam the salmon, about a minute per ounce, over simmering water until cooked through.  Remove and set aside to cool.

If you are using canned salmon, drain and put in a small bowl, breaking up the salmon.

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and taste, seasoning as necessary with more salt or hot sauce (if you want to add some peppers or onions to the salmon cake, sauté before adding to the mixture).  Take the lightly beaten egg and pour into a bowl, using about half of it (you really don’t need much to keep the cake together).  If you don’t have an egg available, I’ve found adding a tablespoon of water and a bit more crushed crackers will keep the patty together just fine.

Preheat a small sauté pan over medium heat with a couple tbsps of vegetable oil for about five minutes and cook the salmon for two minutes on each side, or until a nice crust forms.  All the ingredients are already cooked, so you’re really just giving the cake some color and bringing it up to serving temperature.

Of course you can get fancy and make a nice beurre blanc and serve the cake with some microgreens, but I really doubt anyone reading wants to do that.  I like mustard with my salmon, so I usually make a 1/1 ratio mixture of Dijon mustard to honey.

In the top photo, what I chose to do is to remove the salmon skin (my frozen filet was skin-on), dry it out well, and fry it.  It’s a nice little chip, and actually most of the omega-3s in salmon are in the skin.  The bottom photo (done with canned salmon) was served on a sesame roll with a 1/1 ratio mayo/Dijon mustard and some red lettuce.

This is about as easy as it gets.  The non-canned, steamed salmon really does produce a better result, but the canned works equally as well.  Bon appétit!

I don’t crave a steak that often. When I do, this is my go-to recipe if I don’t feel like making a heavy sauce a la steak au poivre. Flat iron is a cheap cut, usually about $5-6/lb, and when cooked right, it’s excellent and absorbs the flavor of your marinade. I usually slice it against the grain, and rarely do I need a steak knife. Here I used AZ grass-fed beef from The Meat Shop, which is $8.99/lb, but since it was a 12 oz steak, you’re still looking at less than $7. I used a slightly more expensive wine in the marinade (about $18 retail) because since you don’t need it all, you don’t want to use a wine you won’t want to drink with your meal.

12-16oz flat-iron steak

marinade:

• 1/8 c olive oil
• 1/8 c dry red wine
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
• 1/2 tsp fresh parsley (curly or flat-leaf), chopped
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

asparagus:

• bunch of asparagus
• 1 egg (optional)
• 1 lemon, halved, and zested
• white vinegar
• Pecorino or other hard cheese, such as parmesan

tools:

• sheet pan
• heavy-bottom skillet (w/oven-proof handle), preferably cast iron (don’t use non-stick)
• sauce pan
• slotted spoon
• freezer bag

Mix all the marinade ingredients and the freezer bag and place on your counter for about an hour. You can also throw it in the frig for about two hrs, but it will take longer for the flavors to penetrate the meat, and you will also need to bring the steak up to temp; allow about 30-45 mins if you go that route.

When the marinating is done, remove the steak and pat dry, removing any bits of herbs stuck to the meat as these will burn when searing the meat. Season the steak generously with salt and pepper.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees for the asparagus. Break one about 2 inches from the bottom, noting where it snaps and cut the rest of the bunch at this point. Place on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. I usually let these go about 15-18 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally to brown on all sides. Remove and set aside, covered w/foil, leaving the oven on.

Meanwhile, fill your sauce pan and with a couple inches of water and about 1-1 ½ tsp of white vinegar; that will help the poached egg to stay together while cooking. Bring the water to a bare simmer. If you don’t like poached eggs and don’t want one on your asparagus, this step is completely unnecessary. Don’t even make asparagus for that matter – eat a bag of Doritos, it’s your life.

Preheat your skillet for about ten minutes on the stovetop. I use an electric stove, and usually turn the pan on somewhere between 6 and 7. Once heated, pour a couple of tablespoons of oil in the pan (vegetable or grapeseed oil) and swirl; it will probably smoke a bit. Cook the steak, undisturbed, for two minutes until a nice crust forms. Flip the steak over and cook for an additional minute, and then throw the pan in the oven for up to 5 minutes for medium, depending on the thickness of the steak. I usually will let it go about 2-3 minutes for med-rare if it’s about ½ inch thick. Remove the skillet from the oven and tent the steak with foil at least five minutes on a cutting board. Keep the skillet off of the heat for a couple minutes while the steak rests. (If you’re doing the poached egg, now is the time to drop the egg in the water for about 2.5 – 3 minutes, remove with slotted spoon into a shallow bowl, pat dry with paper towels, and set aside). Put a pat of butter in the skillet, making sure it doesn’t burn, and scrape up any bits that remain.

Once the steak is rested, slice the steak against the grain, place on plate and pour the melted butter from your skillet over the meat. Season the meat with a little salt (I used a gray sea salt). Arrange the asparagus on the plate, top with the poached egg if you made it, a little lemon zest, parsley, and some pecorino.

So there you have it…unless of course you wanted to spend $45 for a bone-in ribeye and $10 a la carte sides. You also have a nice wine for under $20 which you couldn’t touch for under $50 in the restaurant. I’m lucky to have an early 20th century cast iron skillet that was passed down to me – if you don’t have one, it doesn’t hurt to go antiquing for one…it’s an indispensible tool, and really makes a difference when cooking a steak at home.

One final note…those plastic herbs in the grocery store might be one of the highest margin items there. $2 for a couple ounces of rosemary is absurd, because it is easy to maintain and it’s always available to you. I recommend getting a big pot and planting some thyme, rosemary, sage and parsley in it if you’re so inclined. Trust me…it will be worth the 30 seconds a couple times a week to water it. Enjoy!

A recent trip to Baiz Market inspired this recipe, and thanks to a recent warm streak in the desert, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to throw something on the grill and sit by the pool.  This recipe is about as easy as it gets - marinate some chicken for about an hour in the frig, make the hummus, grill the chicken under a brick, assemble the pita, and you're done.

What you'll need for the chicken:

• chicken thighs (trimmed of fat)
• a brick, wrapped in heavy foil
• coriander seed, ground
• 2 lemons (zest one lemon)
• 3 cloves of garlic, sliced
• thumb-sized piece of ginger, sliced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• a freezer bag

For the hummus, I used the recipe found here.  You'll need:

• 1 16 oz can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans
• 1/4 cup liquid from can of chickpeas
• 3-5 tbsp lemon juice (depending on taste)
• 1 1/2 tbsp tahini
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Slice up the garlic, zest one lemon, slice the ginger (you can leave the skin on), juice the lemons and combine all ingredients in the freezer bag with the olive oil.  I left about a clove of garlic out and inserted my knife in four places in each chicken thigh and stuffed the opening with a few slices of garlic.  If you don't want to that, you don't have to, but I wanted to make sure the garlic penetrated the chicken (I love garlic).  Season the chicken generously with the coriander, salt and pepper.  Throw the chicken in the freezer bag and mix all ingredients well.  Throw the chicken in the frig for about an hour to let the flavors combine.  I flipped and rubbed the chicken multiple times over the hr to ensure good flavor penetration, and because I'm a little weird and obsessive.

Meanwhile, make the hummus according to the recipe.  I used a blender and let it go on low for about a minute.  Throw the hummus in the frig to let the texture firm up a bit.  Or just eat it out of the blender...either way.

Pre-heat the grill over medium and wrap your bricks in foil.  The weight from the brick will help even the chicken thickness out a bit so it will cook evenly.  If you haven't trimmed your chicken well, you will get a lot of flare-ups from the flame, so make sure you do that.  Grill the chicken skin side down first, placing brick on top, then flip over and continue to cook until it reaches about 170 degrees when a thermometer is inserted into the thigh.  Make sure it's not touching a bone or you will not get an accurate reading.  Let the chicken rest about 5-10 minutes, tented with foil on a cutting board, before you slice it.

With the hummus done, chicken grilled, the only thing left to do is put it all together.  Grab a pita, spread some hummus on the pita, top with lettuce, the chicken, and whatever else you want.  I bought a jar of roasted peppers and eggplant and used that.  Some feta cheese would be nice too, but it's totally up to you.  Now let's eat!